Zaha Hadid Architects' design for a digitally fabricated marine habitat in the North Lantau Marine Park conservation zone in Hong Kong was recently presented at the World Design Congress exhibition in London. The event took place at the Barbican Centre between September 9 and 10, one of the world's most recognized examples of Brutalist architecture. Its theme, "Design for Planet," called on designers and commissioners of design to take on their most critical brief to date: to design a regenerative future in the face of climate change and to examine design's role as a tool for environmental action. In this context, Zaha Hadid Architects presented Nereid, a digitally fabricated habitat developed with advanced 3D printing technologies by D-Shape, aimed at supporting the natural regeneration of marine ecosystems.
Revitalisation of Historic Esna, Egypt. Image Courtesy of Takween ICD
Among the seven winners of this year's 16th Aga Khan Award for Architecture was theRevitalisation of Historic Esna in southern Egypt. Led by the Cairo-based firm Takween, the project was far more than a simple restoration. It was a comprehensive renewal effort that combined deep community engagement with the preservation of both tangible and intangible heritage. By creating thousands of jobs and restoring the historic center, the initiative offered a powerful alternative to demolition. The Aga Khan Trust lauded it as a 'replicable model for sustainable development'.
This year marks 20 years since the first VELUX Daylight Symposium—two decades of shared insights, ideas, and exploration into the role of daylight in our built environment. Since its humble beginnings in 2005, the symposium has grown into a leading international forum for cross-disciplinary dialogue on daylight.
The 10th edition, taking place in the heart of Copenhagen, will once again bring together researchers, architects, engineers, and policymakers to examine the evolving role of daylight in architecture and design. It's a space where science and practice meet to reflect on past learnings and look ahead to the future of daylight in our cities and spaces. Join the livestream on September 18th, 2025, from 09:00 to 17:30 (CEST).
Construction group for the Circo-lô at the IDE Association, in Botucatu | SP. Photo: Tomaz Lotufo
Historically, the first universities in the contemporary model were established in Europe to educate elites for the State and the Church, rather than to promote social emancipation. With the rise of capitalism, they became privileged centers for producing and reproducing modern Western culture. However, from the 1960s onward—particularly after the student uprisings of May 1968—the academic focus shifted toward market-oriented values, displacing humanist and critical ideals. The humanities lost prominence, while technical fields gained central importance, often at the expense of reflecting on the social impact of their work.
Al-Saa'a Convent after restoration. Image Courtesy of UNESCO / Abdullah Rashid
From 2014 to 2019, Daesh (ISIS) occupied and controlled territory in Iraq and Syria, including the northern city of Mosul. UNESCO estimates that 80% of Mosul's historic town was destroyed during this period, which led to one of the most ambitious reconstruction campaigns in recent decades: "Revive the Spirit of Mosul." Since 2019, UNESCO has carried out large-scale efforts to rebuild the city's landscapes and monuments, reconstructing three religious and cultural landmarks and 124 heritage houses, along with other buildings located in the Old City. The program was structured around three pillars: restoring significant heritage, promoting the return of cultural life, and strengthening spaces for education. On September 1, 2025, Iraq's Prime Minister inaugurated three major landmarks: the Al-Nouri Mosque complex, Al-Saa'a Convent, and Al-Tahera Church, marking the completion of the restoration project.
Since its opening in 1987, Four Winds Field — home of the AA Minor League team South Bend Cubs — has undergone several transformations. In each of them, brick has remained a central architectural element, evoking tradition, permanence, and a distinct urban character. Now, with a major expansion underway, the stadium reaffirms this legacy while embracing innovative construction techniques, most notably, the integration of thin brick as a contemporary solution that honors the past without compromising technical performance.
With deep roots, sturdy trunks, and the ability to withstand extreme temperatures, date palms (Phoenix dactylifera) are among the species best adapted to the arid desert environment. It is no coincidence that in many local indigenous cultures they are known as the "tree of life," as their fruits, leaves, and trunks have provided food, shelter, and building materials for thousands of years. Without them, much of human settlement in desert regions would not have been possible. Today, widely cultivated across desert regions around the world, the species continues to sustain traditional agricultural practices, yet its potential can be further enhanced and expanded through the efforts of contemporary researchers.
Utopian Hours returns to Turin as Europe's leading festival dedicated to city making and urban innovation. Three days packed with inspiration: masterclasses, talks, workshops, roundtables, and exhibitions. Recipes and case studies from around the world show how urban (and social) innovation happens — and how the very idea of city-making is being stretched in bold new directions. More than 40 international guests, the most influential media, leading urban gurus, and Europe's sharpest city officials are all gathering in Turin to exchange ideas, tools, experiences, solutions, desires, and passions.
The KoreanPavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia marks its 30th anniversary with "Little Toad, Little Toad: Unbuilding Pavilion," an exhibition commissioned by Arts Council Korea (ARKO) and curated by Curating Architecture Collective (CAC), composed of Chung Dahyoung, Kim Heejung, and Jung Sungkyu. Bringing together architects and artists Kim Hyunjong, Heechan Park, Young Yena, and Lee Dammy, the exhibition critically revisits the pavilion as both a physical structure and a symbolic space, tracing its trajectory since its completion in 1995 while speculating on its possible futures.
In Plato's allegory of the cave, light symbolizes knowledge: it is what guides the human being out of the shadows of ignorance and toward truth. In many religions, light is also associated with divinity, as a manifestation of the sacred. Over time, light ceased to be merely a symbol of reason and became an instrument of sensitivity, a living material capable of shaping atmospheres, influencing perception, and revealing meaning.
Light is masterfully used in the quiet spaces of Tadao Ando, for example, where it seeps in like a sacred substance between concrete walls. In Alvar Aalto's buildings, it is delicately modulated to converse with the Nordic sky. In James Turrell's immersive installations, it becomes body, color, and experience. But light also manifests in the most ordinary gestures: in every precisely oriented window, or every shadow carefully drawn to reveal what is not immediately visible. Like a conductor before the score and the orchestra, the architect can compose with light accentuating volumes, softening boundaries, and giving rhythm and intensity to the spaces we inhabit.
The earliest stages of ideation can be both the most exciting and the most challenging part of the design process. Ideas flow quickly, but they can be abstract and difficult to communicate. This can lead to frustration and waste precious time.
Now, architects, designers, and artists can shorten the distance between the first sketch and a meaningful design decision by pairing traditional ideation techniques with AI-powered visualization tools designed to enhance — not replace — human creativity. Chaos tools keep creators firmly in the center of the process, empowering them with speed and clarity without sacrificing ownership or control.
The AlmatyMuseum of Arts has opened in Kazakhstan, establishing a new cultural institution dedicated to contemporary art in Central Asia and internationally. Designed by Chapman Taylor, the museum is located at the foothills of the Tian Shan mountains and encompasses 10,060 square meters. The design draws inspiration from the contrast between the city of Almaty and its mountainous surroundings, a relationship expressed through two interconnecting limestone and aluminium-clad volumes. These are organized around a central, light-filled atrium referred to as the "Art Street," which serves as the primary circulation and gathering space.
Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture recently revealed images of the AlUla Immersive Living project, a proposed dwelling envisioned to emerge from the desert landscape of Saudi Arabia. Its form is shaped by the site's light and wind, rooted in climate, and positioned between rock and dune. The design follows the concept of a shelter belonging as much to the desert as to its inhabitants, and behaving as a "living landscape." The structure is conceived with thick rammed-earth walls, contrasted by open platforms that frame the sky. It is presented as a statement of architecture intended "not to dominate but to host," providing refuge without severing connections, reflecting Lina Ghotmeh's position at the intersection of context, craft, and care.
The architect's role has traditionally been relatively well-defined: design a building, direct the project, coordinate logistics, and guide construction through to completion. As specialised fields have proliferated, together with a rapidly changing social economy, the practice of architecture has diversified, opening multiple paths for how architects can contribute to society.
Since the 1980s, one of the most consistent shifts may have been the separation between the "design architect" and the "architect of record." Where a single office once carried a project from concept to completion, internationalisation—alongside cross-border work, licensure regimes, procurement models, and liability structures—has encouraged a split. Design teams increasingly set the conceptual and schematic direction, then hand over the design development to local record architects for technical detailing, approvals, and site execution. The model has clear advantages—sharper expertise, efficiency, and often profitability (or services offered at reduced fees)—but it also segments the profession and can distance authorship from delivery.
What, then, might the next shift be, and what new synergies could redefine the architect's role? How should architects adapt to the changing professional climate? One promising trajectory is a turn from singular, permanent objects toward ongoing placemaking—iterative, context-specific programmes that prototype, test, and refine spatial ideas in public. Rather than producing one large, iconic work that fixes a site for decades, this model privileges cycles of making, use, evaluation, and adjustment at the community scale.
Areal am Kronenrain / MONO Architekten. Image Courtesy of Gregor Schmidt
Marginalized in architectural discourse and often dismissed as purely functional, parking garages remain among the most ubiquitous structures in the urban landscape. Designed to accommodate the needs of private vehicles, they occupy central locations, shape skylines, and consume considerable resources, yet rarely receive the same attention — or architectural care — as cultural institutions, schools, or housing. Despite their prevalence, these buildings tend to fade into the background of daily life, treated as infrastructural necessities rather than as design opportunities.
This is beginning to change. As urban mobility undergoes profound transformations — from the decline of car ownership to the rise of electric vehicles and shared transport systems — the role of parking infrastructure is being redefined. Architects and planners are reimagining garages as adaptable frameworks that integrate public space, ecological functions, and mixed-use programs. These new approaches challenge the perception of parking as a residual typology and instead position it as a civic structure with the potential to support more inclusive, flexible, and sustainable urban models.
Comayagua is a city in central Honduras nestled in a valley with the same name. It holds a pivotal place in the nation's history, having served as its colonial and early republican capital for over 300 years. However, when the capital was relocated to Tegucigalpa in 1880, Comayagua's urban expansion halted, inadvertently preserving an ample and rich heritage. By the early 1990s, much of the city's architectural legacy was in a state of disrepair. Recognizing the urgent need to protect it, the governments of Honduras and Spain initiated a collaborative effort, with the objective of initiating a long-term restoration program to create a policy framework that would ensure the preservation of the city's historic center for years to come.
Jonathan Yeung's architectural journey began through his deep appreciation for the physical and bodily experience of moving through carefully crafted spaces. Having grown up and studied across diverse places—Hong Kong, Kyoto, Cambridge, and Berkeley—he developed a sensitivity to how architecture resonates culturally, often in ways that transcend straightforward explanation. For Jonathan, architecture evolved from an embodied experience to a powerful form of expression, encompassing design, construction, and writing. Editorial work has naturally become an extension of this exploration, offering him a platform to reflect on architectural ideas from multiple perspectives.
In recognizing this project, the award jury praised its ability to intervene in a sensitive yet rational manner, using design to foster inclusivity, resilience, sustainability, and overall well-being. The design achieves these goals by rejecting rigid functional zoning. Instead, a permeable circular courtyard integrates diverse community activities, organizing circulation and connecting multiple open rooms into a cohesive whole.
The 2025 edition introduced projects that examined themes of ecology, memory, and connectivity while responding to the challenges of building in the desert. Ranging from intimate interactive pieces to monumental landmarks, the installations encouraged reflection, participation, and community engagement before disappearing at the close of the event.
From September 6 to October 15, 2025, the Aedes Architecture Forum in Berlin will host an exhibition on the Finnish architectural firm Helin & Co. The show aims to examine the firm's role in shaping Helsinki over the past two decades. Titled Heart and Horizon, it reflects the practice's approach of combining the human scale ("Heart") with an engagement with urban space along the waterfront ("Horizon"). A central focus is placed on three projects that have been fundamental to Helsinki's transformation: the Kamppi Centre, a networked urban quarter with mobility hubs, cultural and residential areas; the Kalasatama Centre, a new district on the former harbour that combines urban density with views of the sea; and the Sello District Centre in Espoo, a multifunctional complex with a library, music school and concert hall.
In today's world, learning is no longer confined to classrooms or defined by formal education alone, it happens everywhere, in many forms. From music halls and sensory libraries to neurodiversity training centers and public schools reimagined, the spaces that support learning are becoming just as varied as the ways we learn. This selection of unbuilt educational projects submitted by the ArchDaily community reflects that shift, exploring how architecture can embrace difference, nurture curiosity, and create environments that support a broad spectrum of cognitive, emotional, and social needs.
